Early
Inventions: The ancient Sumerians were very smart. They
invented, amongst other things, the wheel, the sailboat, and the
first written language, frying pans, razors, cosmetic sets,
shepherd’s pipes, harps, kilns to cook bricks and pottery,
bronze hand tools like hammers and axes, the plow, the plow
seeder, and the first superhero, Gilgamesh.
They invented a
system of mathematics based on the number 60. Today, we divide an
hour into 60 minutes, and a minute into 60 seconds. That comes
from the ancient Mesopotamians.
Some Mesopotamian
words are still in use today. Words like crocus, which is a
flower, and saffron, which is a spice, are words borrowed from the
ancient Mesopotamians.
Government:
The ancient Mesopotamians created a government that was a
combination of monarchy and democracy. Kings ruled the people.
Elected officials who served in the Assembly also ruled the
people. Even kings had to ask the Assembly for permission to do
certain things.
Law
and Order: Law held a special place in their
civilization. Sumerian laws were not written down, but people knew
what they were and they knew what could happen to you if you broke
the law. The Sumerian laws clearly said how you
had to behave and what your punishment would be if you did not
behave correctly. The laws that were later written down by the
ancient Babylonians were, for
the most part, laws first created by the ancient
Sumerians.
You can see why
we say that these were extremely clever people. We owe them a
lot!
Cities:
Ancient Sumer was a bustling place of three or four
hundred people. (Just kidding.) The ancient Sumerians built many
cities along the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers.
Archaeologists believe that their largest city, the city of Ur,
had a population of around 24,000 residents.
Daily
Life
